February 28
Events *202 BC – coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han dynasty's rule over China. * 628 – Khosrow II is executed by Mihr Hormozd under the orders of Kavadh II. * 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. *1246 – The Siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen. *1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed by Hernán Cortés's forces. *1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh. *1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar. *1710 – In the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil. *1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church. *1811 – Cry of Asencio, beginning of the Uruguayan War of Independence *1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight. *1838 – Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec) *1844 – A gun on explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members. *1847 – The Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican–American War is a decisive victory for the United States leading to the capture of Chihuahua. *1849 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the in San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor. *1867 – Seventy years of Holy See–United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984. *1870 – The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire. *1874 – One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy. *1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.) *1893 – The , the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched. *1897 – Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force. *1900 – The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted. *1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. *1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America. *1933 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire. *1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon. *1939 – The erroneous word "dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation. *1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden). *1942 – The heavy cruiser is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with which lost 375 men. *1947 – February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians. *1948 – Christiansborg Cross-Roads shooting in the Gold Coast, when a British police officer opens fire on a march of ex-servicemen, killing three of them and sparking major riots and looting in Accra. *1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2). *1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public. *1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history. *1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit. *1972 – Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué. *1975 – In London an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. *1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum. *1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale. *1985 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day. *1986 – Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm. *1991 – The first Gulf War ends. *1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four ATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff. *1995 – Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the Australian federal election, 1993. *1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths. * 1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way. *1998 – First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace. * 1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo. *2002 – During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre. *2004 – Over one million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally form a long human chain to commemorate the February 28 Incident in 1947 *2005 – A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127. *2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415. Births *1119 – Emperor Xizong of Jin (d. 1150) *1155 – Henry the Young King, English son of Henry II of England (d. 1183) *1261 – Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Norway (d. 1283) *1533 – Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and author (d. 1592) *1552 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss mathematician and clockmaker (d. 1632) *1612 – John Pearson, English bishop, theologian, and scholar (d. 1686) *1627 – Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1703) *1675 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726) *1683 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, French entomologist and academic (d. 1757) *1704 – Louis Godin, French astronomer and academic (d. 1760) *1712 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (d. 1759) *1724 – George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1807) *1792 – Karl Ernst von Baer, German biologist, meteorologist, and geographer (d. 1876) *1812 – Berthold Auerbach, German poet and author (d. 1882) *1820 – John Tenniel, English illustrator (d. 1914) *1833 – Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913) *1840 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892) *1848 – Arthur Giry, French historian and academic (d. 1899) *1851 – Samuel W. McCall, American journalist and politician, 47th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1923) *1858 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (d. 1941) *1865 – Wilfred Grenfell, English physician and missionary (d. 1940) *1866 – Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet and playwright (d. 1949) *1873 – William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish sailor (d. 1912) *1878 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1929) *1882 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano and actress (d. 1967) * 1882 – José Vasconcelos, Mexican philosopher, lawyer, and politician, Mexican Secretary of Public Education (d. 1959) *1883 – Seán Mac Diarmada, Irish rebel leader (d. 1916) *1884 – Ants Piip, Estonian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942) *1887 – William Zorach, Lithuanian-American sculptor and painter (d. 1966) *1894 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1964) *1895 – Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright and director (d. 1974) *1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965) *1898 – Zeki Rıza Sporel, Turkish footballer (d. 1969) *1900 – Wolf Hirth, German pilot and engineer, co-founded Schempp-Hirth (d. 1959) *1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994) *1903 – Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter (d. 1986) *1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947) *1907 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (d. 1988) *1908 – Billie Bird, American actress (d. 2002) *1909 – Stephen Spender, English author and poet (d. 1995) *1911 – Otakar Vávra, Czech director and screenwriter (d. 2011) *1915 – Ketti Frings, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981) * 1915 – Peter Medawar, Brazilian-English biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987) * 1915 – Zero Mostel, American actor (d. 1977) *1916 – Cesar Climaco, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th Mayor of Zamboanga City (d. 1984) *1917 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (d. 2007) *1919 – Alfred Marshall, American businessman, founded Marshalls (d. 2013) * 1919 – Brian Urquhart, English soldier and diplomat, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations *1920 – Jadwiga Piłsudska, Polish soldier, pilot, and architect (d. 2014) *1921 – Pierre Clostermann, French pilot, engineer, and author (d. 2006) * 1921 – Saul Zaentz, American film producer (d. 2014) *1922 – Yuri Lotman, Russian-Estonian historian and scholar (d. 1993) *1923 – Charles Durning, American soldier and actor (d. 2012) *1924 – Uno Prii, Estonian-Canadian architect (d. 2000) * 1924 – Robert A. Roe, American soldier and politician (d. 2014) *1925 – Harry H. Corbett, Burmese-English actor (d. 1982) *1926 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian-American author and educator (d. 2011) *1928 – Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and producer (d. 1976) * 1928 – Tom Aldredge, American actor (d. 2011) *1929 – Hayden Fry, American football player and coach * 1929 – Frank Gehry, Canadian-American architect, designed 8 Spruce Street and Walt Disney Concert Hall * 1929 – John Montague, American-Irish poet and academic *1930 – Leon Cooper, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate *1931 – Iajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi academic and politician, 14th President of Bangladesh (d. 2012) * 1931 – Gavin MacLeod, American actor * 1931 – Dean Smith, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015) *1932 – Don Francks, Canadian actor and singer (d. 2016) *1933 – Rein Taagepera, Estonian political scientist and politician *1938 – Foge Fazio, American football player and coach (d. 2009) *1939 – John Fahey, American guitarist (d. 2001) * 1939 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan philosopher and scholar (d. 1987) * 1939 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate * 1939 – Tommy Tune, American actor, singer, dancer, and director *1940 – Aldo Andretti, Italian-American race car driver * 1940 – Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver *1942 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1969) * 1942 – Dino Zoff, Italian footballer and manager *1943 – Barbara Acklin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1998) * 1943 – Hans Dijkstal, Egyptian-Dutch educator and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2010) *1944 – Kelly Bishop, American actress and dancer * 1944 – Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author (d. 2014) * 1944 – Sepp Maier, German footballer and manager * 1944 – Storm Thorgerson, English graphic designer (d. 2013) *1945 – Mimsy Farmer, American-French actress and sculptor * 1945 – Bubba Smith, American football player and actor (d. 2011) *1946 – Philip Bailhache, English lawyer and politician * 1946 – Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 2005) *1947 – Stephanie Beacham, English actress *1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize laureate * 1948 – Mike Figgis, English director, screenwriter, and composer * 1948 – Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer, and author * 1948 – Mercedes Ruehl, American actress * 1948 – Alfred Sant, Maltese politician, 11th Prime Minister of Malta *1950 – Futatsuryū Jun'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler and coach (d. 2014) *1951 – Bill Cratty, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1998) *1953 – Ingo Hoffmann, Brazilian race car driver * 1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate * 1953 – Ricky Steamboat, American wrestler, referee, and trainer *1954 – Brian Billick, American football player, coach, and sportscaster * 1954 – Manuel Torres Félix, Mexican criminal and narcotics trafficker (d. 2012) *1955 – Adrian Dantley, American basketball player and coach * 1955 – Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian, actor, and singer *1956 – Terry Leahy, English businessman * 1956 – Guy Maddin, Canadian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer *1957 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 1996) * 1957 – Ainsley Harriott, English chef and author * 1957 – John Turturro, American actor, director, and screenwriter *1958 – Jack Abramoff, American businessman and criminal * 1958 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian journalist and activist (d. 2009) * 1958 – Jeanne Mas, Spanish-French singer-songwriter and actress * 1958 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (d. 2010) *1959 – Megan McDonald, American librarian and author *1961 – Rae Dawn Chong, Canadian-American actress * 1961 – Mark Latham, Australian politician * 1961 – Barry McGuigan, Irish-British boxer *1962 – Gary Belcher, Australian rugby player and sportscaster *1963 – Claudio Chiappucci, Italian cyclist *1964 – Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan sprinter and cyclist * 1964 – Fernando del Valle, American tenor and actor *1965 – Colum McCann, Irish-American author and academic * 1965 – Norman Smiley, English-American wrestler and trainer *1966 – Vincent Askew, American basketball player and coach * 1966 – Paulo Futre, Portuguese footballer * 1966 – Archbishop Jovan VI of Ohrid *1967 – Colin Cooper, English footballer and manager * 1967 – Martin Tielli, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist *1969 – Butch Leitzinger, American race car driver * 1969 – Robert Sean Leonard, American actor *1970 – Daniel Handler, American journalist, author, and accordion player * 1970 – Noureddine Morceli, Algerian runner *1971 – Junya Nakano, Japanese pianist and composer * 1971 – Peter Stebbings, Canadian actor and director *1972 – Ville Haapasalo, Finnish actor and screenwriter *1973 – Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player * 1973 – Nicolas Minassian, French race car driver * 1973 – Masato Tanaka, Japanese wrestler *1974 – Lee Carsley, English-Irish footballer and manager * 1974 – Alexander Zickler, German footballer and manager *1975 – Mike Rucker, American football player * 1975 – Greg Simkins, American painter *1976 – Ali Larter, American actress *1977 – Jason Aldean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1977 – Lance Hoyt, American football player and wrestler *1978 – Jeanne Cherhal, French singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1978 – Benjamin Raich, Austrian skier * 1978 – Jamaal Tinsley, American basketball player * 1978 – Mariano Zabaleta, Argentinian tennis player *1979 – Sébastien Bourdais, French race car driver * 1979 – Ivo Karlović, Croatian tennis player * 1979 – Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper *1980 – Pascal Bosschaart, Dutch footballer * 1980 – Lucian Bute, Romanian-Canadian boxer * 1980 – Christian Poulsen, Danish footballer * 1980 – Tayshaun Prince, American basketball player *1981 – Brian Bannister, American baseball player and scout * 1981 – Florent Serra, French tennis player *1982 – Natalia Vodianova, Russian-French model and actress *1983 – Terry Bywater, English basketball player *1984 – Noureen DeWulf, American actress * 1984 – Karolína Kurková, Czech model and actress *1985 – Tim Bresnan, English cricketer * 1985 – Fefe Dobson, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress * 1985 – Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player * 1985 – Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer *1986 – Tendai Mzungu, Australian footballer *1987 – Antonio Candreva, Italian footballer *1988 – Aroldis Chapman, Cuban baseball player * 1988 – Jorge Gastélum, Mexican footballer * 1988 – Markéta Irglová, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress *1989 – Charles Jenkins, American basketball player *1994 – Jake Bugg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Deaths * 468 – Pope Hilarius * 628 – Khosrow II, king of the Persian Empire *1105 – Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse (b. c. 1042) *1261 – Henry III, Duke of Brabant (b. 1230) *1326 – Leopold I, Duke of Austria (b. 1290) *1453 – Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (b. 1400) *1510 – Juan de la Cosa, Spanish cartographer and explorer (b. 1450) *1572 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss historian and author (b. 1505) *1572 – Udai Singh II, Mewar ruler (b. 1522) *1621 – Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1590) *1648 – Christian IV of Denmark (b. 1577) *1786 – John Gwynn, English architect and engineer (b. 1713) *1788 – Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1725) *1857 – André Dumont, Belgian geologist and academic (b. 1809) *1869 – Alphonse de Lamartine, French author and poet (b. 1790) *1879 – Hortense Allart, Italian-French author (b. 1901) *1891 – George Hearst, American businessman and politician (b. 1820) *1916 – Henry James, American novelist, short writer, and critic (b. 1843) *1925 – Friedrich Ebert, German politician, 1st President of Germany (b. 1871) *1929 – Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian physician and immunologist (b. 1874) *1932 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (b. 1851) *1935 – Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1847) *1936 – Charles Nicolle, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866) *1941 – Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886) *1942 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (b. 1889) *1959 – Maxwell Anderson, American journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1888) *1963 – Rajendra Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st President of India (b. 1884) *1966 – Charles Bassett, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1931) *1966 – Elliot See, American commander, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1927) *1967 – Henry Luce, Chinese-American publisher, co-founded ''Time Magazine (b. 1898) *1977 – Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, American actor and comedian (b. 1905) *1978 – Zara Cully, American actress (b. 1892) * 1978 – Eric Frank Russell, English author (b. 1905) *1987 – Stephen Tennant, English author (b. 1906) *1991 – Koesbini, Indonesian composer (b. 1910) * 1991 – Wassily Hoeffding, Finnish-American statistician and theorist (b. 1914) *1993 – Ishirō Honda, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1911) * 1993 – Ruby Keeler, Canadian-American actress and dancer (b. 1909) *1998 – Dermot Morgan, Irish comedian and actor (b. 1952) * 1998 – Arkady Shevchenko, Ukrainian diplomat (b. 1930) *2002 – Mary Stuart, American actress and singer (b. 1926) * 2002 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer (b. 1920) *2003 – Chris Brasher, Guyanese-English runner and journalist, co-founded the London Marathon (b. 1928) * 2003 – Fidel Sánchez Hernández, Salvadorian general and politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1917) *2004 – Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian and librarian (b. 1914) * 2004 – Carmen Laforet, Spanish author (b. 1921) * 2004 – Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian sergeant (b. 1982) *2005 – Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer (b. 1941) *2006 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920) *2007 – Charles Forte, Baron Forte, Italian-English businessman, founded the Forte Group (b. 1908) * 2007 – Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. American historian and critic (b. 1917) * 2007 – Billy Thorpe, English-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1946) *2008 – Joseph M. Juran, Romanian-American engineer and businessman (b. 1904) *2009 – Paul Harvey, American radio host (b. 1918) *2011 – Annie Girardot, French actress (b. 1931) * 2011 – Jane Russell, American actress and singer (b. 1921) *2012 – Frisner Augustin, Haitian drummer and composer (b. 1948) * 2012 – Jim Green, American-Canadian educator and politician (b. 1943) * 2012 – Hal Roach, Irish comedian and author (b. 1927) *2013 – Daniel Darc, French singer-songwriter (b. 1959) * 2013 – Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926) * 2013 – Neil McCorkell, English cricketer and coach (b. 1912) *2014 – Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch linguist and author (b. 1935) * 2014 – Lee Lorch, American mathematician and activist (b. 1915) *2015 – Alex Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1942) * 2015 – Yaşar Kemal, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1923) *2016 – George Kennedy, American actor (b. 1925) Holidays and observances *Christian feast day: **Abercius (martyr) **Anna Julia Cooper and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright (Episcopal Church (USA)) **Hilarius **Mar Abba **Oswald of Worcester **Romanus of Condat **Rufinus **February 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) *Earliest day on which Rare Disease Day can fall, while February 29 is the latest; observed on the last day of February (international) *The third day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá'í Faith) (Please note that this observance is only locked into this date the Gregorian calendar on this date if Bahá'í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which it doesn't in all years) *Día de Andalucía (Andalusia, Spain) *Kalevala Day, the day of Finnish culture. (Finland) *National Science Day (India) *Peace Memorial Day (Taiwan) *Teachers' Day (Arab states) *World Tailors Day (international) External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada Category:Days of the year Category:February